An African Americans Dreams and “Harlem” by Langston...

â€Å"Harlem† by Langston Hughes is a poem that talks about what happens when we postpones our dreams. The poem is made up of a series of similes and it ends with a metaphor. The objective of the poem is to get us to think about what happens to a dream that is put off, postponed; what happens when we create our very own shelve of dreams? The â€Å"dream† refers to a goal in life, not the dreams we have while sleeping, but our deepest desires. There are many ways to understand this poem; it varies from person to person. Some may see this poem as talking about just dreams in general. Others may see it as African-American’s dreams. The reason I say African American’s dreams is because the author published this poem in 1951, the time period where there†¦show more content†¦The questions in this poem are all rhetorical questions because they answer themselves. The first and second stanzas uses similes: â€Å"like a raisin in the sun,† â€Å"fester like a sore,† â€Å"stink like rotten meat,† â€Å"like a syrupy sweet† and â€Å"sags like a heavy load.† The last stanza ends uses a metaphor: â€Å"does it explode.† Imagery is very important in literature because it gets the reader to visualize what they are reading, become part of it and understand it more. This poem uses imagery: â€Å"raisin in the sun,† â€Å"stink like rotten meat,† etc. The poem also uses rhyme: sun-run, meat-sweet, load-explode. When a raisin is left out in the sun to dry it hardens and becomes impossible to eat. It losses its value and purpose and can no longer go back to its original state. The first simile in the poem says: â€Å"Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun.† First of all a raisin is a dried up grape. Yet, it is still a good and nutritious thing. But when these things happen it can never go back to what it was originally. Just like if someone is not permitted to do something they love their talent will dry up and transform into something else. Usually something negative. The sun is a very important detail here because it stresses time. We as humans measure time by the sun’s movement. If a deferred dream doesn’t dry up maybe it’ll â€Å"fester like a sore-and thenShow MoreRelatedLangston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance1736 Words   |  7 Pages17 Due: 20 Aug 2017 The Dream Called Langston As an artist, or literature, music or visual art, there is power in creating pieces that move the masses. For an African American artist in the 1920’s, that power was fought for harder and dimmed due the racial inequalities across America. Being acknowledged as a credible artist was equated to being acknowledged as an American during a time where African American citizens were not considered an equal under the law. 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